The Devil Fights Back
Viewing comments for Chapter 7 "The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 7"Challenges in the pharmaceutical field
17 total reviews
Comment from barbara.wilkey
This story is coming full circle. I like that. I still can't wait to see what Julia's mom has to do with all of this. I have a feeling Patty will become a whistle blower. I enjoyed reading.
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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This story is coming full circle. I like that. I still can't wait to see what Julia's mom has to do with all of this. I have a feeling Patty will become a whistle blower. I enjoyed reading.
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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I think you mean Dana rather than Patty, but good instincts. Patty (the hacker and computer expert) will also play a part later in the story. Julia's mom too. I haven't fully fleshed out her part in it yet, but it will be significant.
Comment from Ric Myworld
You sure must hang out with some smart people; and of course, success breeds success. I'd love to have one of those golf suits. I gave the game up after my second broken neck, this loose and nimble limber-back had become a stiff and sore humpbacked whale. Thanks for sharing.
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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You sure must hang out with some smart people; and of course, success breeds success. I'd love to have one of those golf suits. I gave the game up after my second broken neck, this loose and nimble limber-back had become a stiff and sore humpbacked whale. Thanks for sharing.
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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Abby is kind of my fantasy perfect woman and has appeared in most of my novels. She was the main character in Some Call It Luck. I only wish I were half as smart as she is.
I would love to have had one of those golf suits too. Like most golfers, I spent my life trying something new all the time hoping to finally find the magic key to the swing. I radically changed my swing at least 4 times during my 60-year career playing golf, with many minor tweaks in addition. I unfortunately had to quit the game a couple years ago after having a total wrist fusion surgery to stop arthritis pain. That pretty much spoiled my golf game, and it was no longer fun for me. So now I just write about golf and watch it on TV.
I can understand your giving it up after two broken necks. How did you manage to do that?
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Sorry you're missing out on your love of golf. Like you, I had to give it up. Two broken necks, and the three bones in both wrists removed due to arthritis. Both broken necks were from being rear-ended. Once by a tractor trailer running 70 miles/hour, and rear-ended at a traffic-light by some kid running 70 mile/hour when traffic stopped unexpectedly. The bones in my wrists is another story. LOL.
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Sorry to hear about all that, Ric. It's amazing you're still alive!
As much as I hated giving up golf, I certainly appreciate not having that wrist pain anymore. I also had those bones removed plus bone grafts put in and a metal rod to make it a total fusion. I could have opted for a partial fusion, which would have preserved some wrist bending for a few more years, but the doctor said I would probably eventually want the total fusion because the pain would likely come back.
I tried golfing for a while after I recovered from the surgery, but it changed my swing so much, robbed me of at least 50 yards of distance, and completely ruined my short game (except for putting), that it just took all the fun out of it. Time to give it up.
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Yes, Jim, you probably made the right move. I've made it almost 10-years by opting for the partial, but now I'm rethinking my choice. My drives were the only highlights of my game, but after losing 150 yards, driving many par 4s was a thing of the past. LOL. And it took all the fun out of the game for me. My playing buddies said I was the only person in my family to walk upright. Have a wonderful weekend!
Comment from Pam Lonsdale
I can imagine men, and some women, thinking it impossible for two women who have just met to open up about private matters so freely to each other. However, I have had a couple of occasions in my life to meet women that I was able to open up to immediately, and they didn't let me down. I think women recognize a sister when they meet one. So I think that part of your story works.
"shook my head ruefully" - what does that look like? Shaking the head slowly side to side, maybe a frown. The reader might have trouble seeing Dana do this particular reaction.
And now we have Dana's backstory; thanks for the reminder. She was a shit, lol!
Good backstory while moving the story, and their friendship, along.
xo
Pam
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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I can imagine men, and some women, thinking it impossible for two women who have just met to open up about private matters so freely to each other. However, I have had a couple of occasions in my life to meet women that I was able to open up to immediately, and they didn't let me down. I think women recognize a sister when they meet one. So I think that part of your story works.
"shook my head ruefully" - what does that look like? Shaking the head slowly side to side, maybe a frown. The reader might have trouble seeing Dana do this particular reaction.
And now we have Dana's backstory; thanks for the reminder. She was a shit, lol!
Good backstory while moving the story, and their friendship, along.
xo
Pam
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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My wife also had a little problem with Dana opening up so freely to Fran, but I agree with you. I have also met people I feel so comfortable with quickly, that I'm not afraid to share details of my life that I wouldn't normally unless I knew the person quite a bit better. I think the two of them are quite simpatico and will become even closer as the story progresses.
There's a larger purpose in going into some of the detail of Dana's backstory in order to provide context for what I plan to bring in later in the story. Plus, I just thought it was interesting and was a good summary of what happened in Some Call It Luck and partially revisited from Kenny's POV in Saving Mr. Calvin.
Comment from BethShelby
I am starting to think you must be an inventor because all of your stories have to do with some unusual product and trying to get it patented and marketed. This story makes Dana out to a truly depictable person until she getting humiliated into charging her focus.
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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I am starting to think you must be an inventor because all of your stories have to do with some unusual product and trying to get it patented and marketed. This story makes Dana out to a truly depictable person until she getting humiliated into charging her focus.
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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I'm not an inventor of anything except for ideas, but I've never thought of something and actually seen it through to completion. More's the pity because I could be a billionaire if any of my "inventions" actually worked the way I envision them :-)
You're right, Beth. Dana was truly despicable in Some Call It Luck, and tormented Abby all her life until she was finally shamed into reforming near the end of the story. It is possible to change your morals, but I don't want her personality to change too much. She'll still be somewhat caustic and crude at times, but hopefully she will have learned to channel it where it belongs.
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You've done enough research to know how to get a patient. May you should follow through on some of those ideas.
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Unfortunately, they won't let you patent an idea. You really have to put it into reality to get a patent for it.
Comment from BethShelby
I am starting to think you must be an inventor because all of your stories have to do with some unusual product and trying to get it patented and marketed. This story makes Dana out to a truly depictable person until she getting humiliated into charging her focus.
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I am starting to think you must be an inventor because all of your stories have to do with some unusual product and trying to get it patented and marketed. This story makes Dana out to a truly depictable person until she getting humiliated into charging her focus.
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
Comment from Wayne Fowler
This long, drawn out history of Dana does not seem real. But maybe it's just because it's people I would never hang out with.
Admitting that she cheated in marriage and then used sex to make money, brought out the way you did, just doesn't sit right. Who would do that except to a priest?
But I don't know of another way to get Fran (and the readers) into who Dana was.
Best wishes.
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reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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This long, drawn out history of Dana does not seem real. But maybe it's just because it's people I would never hang out with.
Admitting that she cheated in marriage and then used sex to make money, brought out the way you did, just doesn't sit right. Who would do that except to a priest?
But I don't know of another way to get Fran (and the readers) into who Dana was.
Best wishes.
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The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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I can understand your disbelief here. Not many people are as open about a lurid past as Dana is being here, but what makes it easier for her is the fact that she's changed and feels much better about her life now. I think it's easier to talk about past sins when you've reformed. I've seen many shows where past criminals are now speaking to youth about what they were like and how they finally saw the sins of the past for what they were and reformed.
I, myself, have heard a number of stories from folks here at FanStory admitting of past flaws, and I've shared some of my own to relative strangers. But if you're a private person, this would seem strange.
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I follow your point, but I looked back. You gave the confessional approximately a thousand (or more) words. I felt like it was a bit much.
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That's a valid point. Hopefully, it was interesting, though.
Comment from Wendy G
How clever to reintroduce your former characters! This story is full of surprises, which I enjoy. I also like that you deal with serious and relevant ethical dilemmas, and it is good to see that people still do have sets of values which make them uncomfortable if they are not living according to their beliefs. Thanks for a fine story. I am enjoying it. Wish I still had a six for you.
Wendy
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reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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How clever to reintroduce your former characters! This story is full of surprises, which I enjoy. I also like that you deal with serious and relevant ethical dilemmas, and it is good to see that people still do have sets of values which make them uncomfortable if they are not living according to their beliefs. Thanks for a fine story. I am enjoying it. Wish I still had a six for you.
Wendy
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Comment Written 23-Nov-2024
reply by the author on 23-Nov-2024
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Thanks so much, Wendy. I really appreciate your thoughtful comments here. I do indeed like bringing in past characters. I always love when Stephen King does that in his novels. He has even brought himself in as a minor character in a few of his stories. I'll have to try that sometime.
I can't remember if you were a reader of Some Call It Luck, where we got a good picture of Dana's early character and what made her the way she was. Back then, she would have had no problem fitting in with Big Pharma and participating with their practices without giving it a second thought, but she has reformed, and now is extremely uncomfortable with it.
Although her ethics have changed, I still want to keep her somewhat feisty and a little bit crude.